Dog Days of Senior Year

For those of you who don't know, this is my final semester of college. At first, I was just excited about this, but it seems like every day I get a little more scared. And I can blame just one question.

"What are you going to do after you graduate?"

I've been asked that question throughout my college career, but now it's real. Before, I could just push it off and say things like, "I don't know, something with editing," or "I'm not sure, but I'm not worried about it yet." Well, it's time to start worrying about it, because it's coming, it's coming quickly, and all I see in my head is

(http://www.angelfoodcomic.com/about/)

Last night I had a bit of a revelation and for a few brief and shining moments, I felt like I did know what I was doing. I was looking through a book on knitting and thought to myself, "Hey, I could help with this." I mean, somebody has to edit knitting literature (of which there is more than you would probably think), and it might as well be me! I want to be that person.

But then "I have no idea what I'm doing" dog comes back and reminds me that I don't even know how to begin going into that field.

Help me.

Logan

Today, I want to talk to you about true love.

This is Logan, my fiance.

This picture is at a weird angle because I'm sick and confined to laying on the couch. Logan and I started dating in February a couple years ago, and the day after we were official, I got sick like this. My nose was stuffy, my throat hurt, and I was pretty much just a nasty mess. But he took care of me by getting me medicine and making sure that I drank plenty of water and didn't forget to eat.

Now we've been dating for a while, we're engaged, and Logan still takes good care of me. Even though I'm sick and nasty and kind of cranky and mean, Logan doesn't hold it against me. He still makes sure I take care of myself so I'll get better.

Logan is always there when I need him with patience and grace in spades, and I just wanted to give him a public shout out and thank you.

My Body, My Rules

Yesterday I was talking with a classmate about his daughter. He slid his chair up to a group of three of us girls that are always chatty before class and said he needed some advice about girls. We, naturally, said we'd be happy to give it.

He asked us why girls wear shorts that are so short they have to constantly pick at them, and skirts so short that they're constantly pulling them down. In other words, why do girls wear uncomfortable things like that? His concern was that his daughter (who is college-aged) would start emulating this trend.


(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_short_shorts.jpg)

The two others I was with immediately started saying it was stupid for girls to dress like this and he should just tell his daughter it was dumb and not let her wear these things -- for her own good.

I disagreed.

Why do girls wear stuff that so obviously uncomfortable? Because we're supposed to. The above picture is a comically extreme case, but we like to look and feel sexy, because we're constantly told that our body is for the viewing pleasures of others. Women are constantly judged by their looks, even if not maliciously, because we are raised from the time we are children to think in this way.

I told this to my classmate and suggested that he just leave his daughter alone and let her look how she wants. She's old enough to make her own decisions, and she has to figure out for herself what she wants her image to be. By telling her what she can and cannot look like, even if it's with the best of intentions for her sense of self-worth, he would be perpetuating the idea that her body is not her own and exists only to be what others want it to be.

He was taken aback, and said he'd never thought of that before. He mentioned how, when he stopped to think about it, women really did have a difficult time with their appearance because it was such a double-edged sword. We just can't win.

It blew my mind that he had never thought of that before. He'd never had to, because he's a man. And though men do have to deal with biases based off appearance, it's not as rampant for them. But the intricacies of how men view each other is lost on me, since I'm not part of that group. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this subject in the comments though.

And ladies, do you often worry about your appearance and how others perceive you based on that fact alone?

To Revise or Not to Revise

I just finished reading "Revising Your Writing Again?" and it got me thinking.Is my revision for better or for worse?

I often go too far with revision in my writing and rework everything until it's hardly recognizable as the same piece, often at the expense of whatever made the piece special in the first place. I'm currently going through my own personal revision Hell with my Honors Capstone -- a novella. Everything just feels like it could be so much better, and it could, but I feel like my desire to communicate my message is actually obscuring any real connection I may have made.

Blogging is an interesting contrast to my longer writing and writing for school, because I usually just slap it up after the briefest of copyediting sessions, and hardly ever change the content. The weird thing is, I'm often surprised by how much I still like my blogs when I go back and read them, especially when compared to how I feel about my academic papers.

What are your thoughts on revision? Do you revise differently on the Internet versus on paper? 

(http://sharppendullsword.blogspot.com/2010/11/end-of-month-wrap-yo.html)

Pencils

Chapter 3 of A Better Pencil should be titled "I Bet You Didn't Know Pencils Were So Interesting." Seriously. I learned more about pencils than I even knew was there to learn. And it was fascinating. So fascinating that I put a pencil in my backpack for the first time in years. I won't use it because I hate the way writing in pencil feels, but still. It's there now.

It does make me wonder how often poor Thoreau got teased for his pencil passion. Let's face it, if this chapter was any indication, he was a nerd for pencils. Nerds get teased. It's the cycle of life. I wonder if he dreamt of pencils. I dream of yarn all the time, so I imagine it's not that unlikely. Did he have nightmares about pencils? Did he ever use a nerdy, pencil-themed pick up line?

Now I just want to come up with a bunch of nerdy, pencil-themed pick up lines.

And I can't. Ugh. This is going to bother me all day. Actually... "Life without you would be like a broken pencil. Pointless." Thank you, Google.


(http://designyoutrust.com/style/pencil-socks/)

Red Dead Redemption and Knitting Patterns

I want to start designing my own knitting patterns, but I'm not sure how to begin that process. I haven't been knitting all that long, just a year and a half, and I don't feel that I really understand it enough to begin designing.

But, in the Riot Grrrl spirit in which I try to live my life, I say I'm just going to go for it. What's the worst that could happen? I create a stupid looking sock? Oh no! Whatever will I do? It's knitting. I can just rip it back and start over if I so choose.

So, I'd like to design a sock based off the game I'm currently playing -- Red Dead Redemption. (Quick aside -- does anybody know if you're "supposed" to italicize game titles?) For those of you unfamiliar with the game, here's a picture that pretty much sums it up.


(Picture taken from: http://dangerbrain.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/red-dead-redemptions-religious-undertones/)

You play as a cowboy and do all sorts of cowboy-y things like catch bad guys, tame mustangs, and play poker, all while advancing the further mission of taking down the head of the most notorious gang in New Austin. It's got an interesting morality system, and the whole thing has me hooked, but that's a story for another day.

What strikes me over and over is how freaking beautiful the game is. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking, and I love riding through it on my trusty steed. Enjoy some more eye candy and soak up the beauty for a second.


(http://metavideogame.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/red-dead-redemption-unforgiven/)


(http://www.gamernode.com/reviews/red-dead-redemption-review/)


(http://www.glorytogaming.com/2012/05/is-it-just-another-rockstar-title-red.html)

Awesome, right?

And it's not only Red Dead's desert that has me inspired. It seems like everything I'm experiencing lately takes place in a desert. First was Dune, then Journey, now Red Dead. I've fallen in love with the colors and subtle beauty of the landscape. I like the wide open spaces that are ugly at first glance, but the longer you look, the more you see their intricacies of color and the way space moves up and down in canyons and cliffs.

I do understand the irony of designing something knit after a place where no one in their right mind would wear such a thing, but I'm going to forge ahead in spite of that. Now the question is what to make. Socks? They're small and portable, but I'm not great at them. A hat? Also portable, and very quick, but how would you integrate a desert theme into a hat? A shawl? I love knitting shawls, and I could incorporate the idea of dunes into some sort of wavy construction in a super light yarn that would float on the breeze...

I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave me a comment (or five)!

Explanation in the Digital Age

My classes are already starting to blur together. It happens to me every semester, but usually not until after midterms. I think it's because almost all my classes are writing based -- so they just feed off each other. Currently, I'm working on an assignment for my technical writing class in which I examine a piece of technical writing and perform a rhetorical analysis on it. Part of the assignment is to analyze and critique the author's ability to provide enough background knowledge for the reader to follow along (if applicable). 

Now, because I'm also taking Writing for the Digital Age, my brain is constantly picking apart current communications. That's when I got to thinking about the necessity for technical writers to provide background information. In our Google age, is there a point to explaining jargon and other highly specific information in every case?

Let's take, for example, a knitting pattern.

Above is Robin Ulrich's "Greyhaven Cowl" (Ravelry link for those interested: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/greyhaven-cowl).

I've been pining after the Greyhaven Cowl for a while, and finally broke down and bought the pattern. I haven't begun knitting yet, but a preliminary glance has got me feeling pretty good. The pattern is neatly organized, there are charted and written instructions, and repeats are even color coded. It even includes instructions for binding off and blocking, which is above and beyond the call of duty.

But, as nice as all that effort on the designers part is, I don't think she needed to do all of that. I wouldn't have blamed her for a second if she just charted out the pattern and didn't write it as well, because if I didn't already know how to read a chart, I could just Google it. Same for blocking and binding off. The information is already out there and readily available.

What is our responsibility to explain processes or jargon that's easily looked up by those who don't know the information already? I'd love to see what you think in the comments.

Also, on an only semi-related note, I think I'm going to make these socks for myself. They're just too cool.

They are Claire Ellen's "Pippin Socks" (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pippin-socks).